“For years, Washington has failed to address the issue of rising energy costs and, as a result, the country now faces a true energy crisis, one that is causing serious harm to America’s manufacturing sector and all consumers of energy,” Andrew Liveris, Chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical, said in a statement explaining Dow’s own price hikes.

“The government’s failure to develop a comprehensive energy policy is causing U.S. industry to lose ground when it comes to global competitiveness, and our own domestic markets are now starting to see demand destruction throughout the U.S.”

He’s got a point, you know.

I remember when the Bush administration was first formulating its energy policy and they were getting a lot of their ideas from this guy:

Why build more fuel-efficient cars when you can just hedge the price of gasoline for car buyers?

Chrysler, the worst-performing Big Three automaker, is extending it’s cheap-gas promotion until July 7. Apparently, this sales gimmick is still putting more people into gas-guzzling cars. General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. have yet to make a similar offer.

It doesn’t take much brain power to be the smartest CEO in the airline industry, but Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly gets my nomination.

With oil prices hovering above $130 a barrel, American Airlines is nailing its customers with a $15 fee for checking a single bag.

This move even tops United Airlines, which in February established a $25 fee for anyone checking second bag. But at least the first bag was free. (Click here to see column.) Other airlines quickly followed suit.

This trend brings up an interesting question. If the big airlines can follow each other on these annoying bag-checking fees, why can’t they do the same on fares?

Are they so busy killing each other in a battle for market share that they can’t raise fares fast enough to keep up with jet fuel prices?

The Austin-based grocer’s stock fell more than 12 percent Wednesday after the company reported shrinking first quarter profits that missed Wall Street’s estimates.

So much for the theory that Whole Foods’ customers were such chic-chic bourgeois butterballs that they would always spend top dollar for an organic quiche. And that the company would be immune to a downturn.

Traditional grocers increasingly offer organic products for less. And with gasoline at $3.60 a gallon, the neighborhood Safeway or King Soopers is suddenly feeling a lot more hip. Read more…

Wal-Mart’s same store sales were up 2.6 percent in April, but it’s top executives are warning of a slower May.

The problem: Too many people are living paycheck to paycheck amid an economic slump.

“The economy continues to get tougher and the ‘paycheck cycle’ is more pronounced for customers than in past months,” U.S. stores chief Eduardo Castro-Wright said Thursday. “As money gets tighter for them toward the end of the month, sales drop more than we have seen in the past.” Read more…

Can CEO Glenn Tilton keep United Airlines out of bankruptcy for at least as long as it was in bankruptcy?

Under Tilton, United filed bankruptcy in December 2002 and did not emerge until February 2006. That was roughly three years and three months.

Now, roughly two years and two months later, oil has hit $119 a barrel, the credit market is as tight as the airport security lines, and United is reeling again.

Soaring fuel costs racked up a $537 million first quarter loss, erasing more than one-third of United’s stock value, and prompting plans to slash 1,100 jobs and cut routes.

I wish I could count how many times United has hachted to slash something.

United still has $2.9 billion in cash on hand, so at the rate it is currently burning money in the sky, it can last at least five more quarters (based on reported losses, and far longer bases on its negative free cash flow or $181 million in the first quarter).

That would stave off a bankruptcy filing until the middle of next year, keeping United out of bankruptcy for about three years and three months — exactly how long it was in bankruptcy.

Perhaps United’s cost-cutting can postpone another emergency landing in bankruptcy court, or perhaps its costs will keep escalating, forcing it to file even sooner.

United needs either a swift drop in fuel prices or a merger with Delta to change the disastrous course it finds itself flying once again. On the bright side, though, at least this company is used to operating under Chapter 11.

(PHOTOS: United jet at Denver International Airport by The Denver Post. CEO Glenn Tilton by the Associated Press.)